The maritime sector is undergoing a rapid transition toward low-emission and energy-efficient propulsion systems in response to increasingly stringent environmental regulations and global decarbonization targets. Among the enabling technologies for this transition, battery energy storage systems have emerged as a key component of modern electrified ship power systems. This paper presents a comprehensive review of shipboard electrification with a particular focus on the integration of battery energy storage systems within emerging electrical/electronic architectures and hybrid propulsion concepts. First, the paper reviews the evolution of shipboard propulsion technologies across different vessel categories and analyzes how operational profiles influence electrification potential. Next, AC, DC, and hybrid AC/DC electrical architectures are systematically compared in terms of efficiency, protection complexity, scalability, and suitability for integrating energy storage and renewable sources. The role of energy storage technologies, including lithium-ion batteries, hybrid energy storage systems, and fuel-cell-based configurations, is then examined with respect to operational requirements, safety considerations, and lifecycle performance. The review further analyzes recent advances in power electronics, converter topologies, wide-bandgap semiconductor devices, and advanced control strategies that enable efficient and reliable operation of electrified ship power systems. Finally, emerging approaches in shipboard grid management, such as digital twins, optimization-based co-design frameworks, and AI-enhanced energy management systems, are discussed as key enablers for future intelligent maritime energy systems. By synthesizing technological developments across architectures, storage systems, power electronics, and control strategies, this review identifies current research gaps and outlines future directions toward reliable, scalable, and decarbonized shipboard power systems. • Provides a system-level comparative analysis of AC, DC, and hybrid shipboard E/E architectures. • Quantitatively compares battery technologies and maps their suitability to different vessel classes. • Evaluates converter topologies and control strategies with respect to efficiency, scalability, and implementation constraints. • Synthesizes real-world vessel case studies to identify trends in electrification and hybridization. • Identifies key research gaps in integrated modeling, reliability-aware control, and digital twin-enabled co-design.
Kazemian et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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